Chapter 3 - THE SEVEN-YEAR LIE
Elena told her story the following morning.
Marco invited me to remain because Frank wanted me nearby, and because I had already witnessed the beginning.
We sat in the breakfast room.
Theo was upstairs with a trusted nanny.
Celeste had left the estate during the night.
Marco had ended their engagement.
Elena held a cup of coffee between both hands.
"Seven years ago, I discovered something about one of your shipping companies."
Marco frowned.
"Which company?"
"DeLuca Atlantic."
He sat back.
That business had been sold years earlier.
Elena continued.
"I was working in the accounting department. I found payments to shell companies connected to a charity."
"What charity?"
"The Arden Children's Foundation."
Marco went still.
Celeste's family foundation.
Elena nodded.
"I reported the irregularities to your finance director."
"Who?"
"Patrick Heller."
Marco's expression darkened.
Patrick had been his trusted financial adviser for nearly a decade.
"What happened?"
"He told me the records were confidential and that I had misunderstood them."
Elena looked down.
"Two days later, someone accessed my computer and sent an email from my account accusing you of stealing from the company."
Marco stared.
"I received that email."
"I never sent it."
He closed his eyes.
The message had been vicious.
It accused him of becoming their father at his worst.
It claimed Elena wanted nothing more to do with him.
Marco had tried calling her.
Her number had been disconnected.
He had sent letters.
They were returned.
Elena looked at him.
"I received a letter supposedly from you."
"What did it say?"
"That I was no longer welcome in the family."
Marco's jaw tightened.
"I never wrote that."
"I know that now."
Her eyes filled.
"At the time, I believed it."
Frank made a wounded sound.
Marco reached for his hand.
Elena continued.
"I moved to Boston. I worked at a hotel. That's where I met Adrian."
I watched her expression soften.
"He was kind. He was a paramedic. He made me laugh when I thought I'd forgotten how."
They fell in love.
A year later, Elena became pregnant.
But Adrian discovered that someone had been using his identity to authorize suspicious financial transfers.
He started investigating.
Then he disappeared.
Elena was told he'd died in a highway accident.
She never saw his body.
"Who told you?" Marco asked.
Elena looked directly at him.
"Celeste."
The room went silent.
"She came to Boston," Elena continued. "She said she was a friend of the family. She told me Adrian was dead and that you didn't want me contacting you."
Marco's hands curled into fists.
"Why would you believe her?"
Elena's eyes flashed.
"Because I was twenty-four, pregnant, alone, and desperate for someone to explain why everyone I loved had disappeared."
Marco lowered his head.
"I'm sorry."
Elena wiped her tears.
"Three years ago, Celeste visited again."
"At the hotel?" I asked.
Elena nodded.
"She offered me money to leave Boston and never contact the DeLuca family."
Marco stared.
"How much?"
"Two million dollars."
Frank gasped.
Elena looked at him.
"I refused."
She reached into her handbag.
Then placed a small digital recorder on the table.
"I recorded our conversation."
Marco looked at the device.
Elena pressed play.
Celeste's voice filled the room.
"You have no idea what your brother will do if he learns the truth about that child."
Elena's recorded voice answered.
"The truth about what?"
Celeste laughed.
"About who his father really is."
The recording stopped.
Marco looked at Elena.
"What did she mean?"
May you like
Elena swallowed.
"That's what I've spent three years trying to discover."
